Stephanie Zapalowicz
Stephanie Zapalowicz is a character in the Ghostwriter book The Chocolate Bar Bust. She is the mystery kid that helps the team solve the water bill scam. Summary While the team is discussing about Hector and his chocolate bar sales, Ghostwriter sends the team a message from Stephanie, which is, “I’m in BIG trouble now.” Jamal asks the ghost what kind of trouble he was in. Ghostwriter states that a kid had written it. After being asked to find out any clues near the kid, Ghostwriter sends a diary entry with them stating that someone named Conrad would be angry about them having lost something. Later, after finding out an elderly man had paid a fake water bill, Ghostwriter sends another diary entry from Stephanie. The team decides to call her “Mystery Kid.” Hector later goes to Mrs. Astor, who sells baseball cards and likes chocolate and peanut butter bars. Stephanie walks into the store and goes to the trading cards. While Hector talks again to Mrs. Astor, something falls to the floor. Hector turns around and sees the kid again, thinking that they had probably been listening to them talking. As the kid goes out of the store, Hector asks who the kid is, and Mrs. Astor responds that they had been spending a lot of time in the store and really likes baseball cards, but does not seem have the money to buy a lot. Hector leaves the store and sees the mystery kid going around the corner. Ghostwriter sends letters from the Stephanie’s backpack and places them on a billboard, which is another diary entry. Included is the kid wondering if Mrs. Vega would be the next victim. Hector walks to Mr. Yafa’s place, wondering how the mystery kid knows the elderly man. He thinks someone is following him, and thinks he sees a kid wearing a blue and orange baseball cap. After a while, the person is no longer following him. Hector finds two more people that had paid fake water bills, including Mrs. Vega, he starts to head toward the bodega. On the way there, he hears Stephanie calling out to him to stop. More people start coming toward him, and accuse him of taking her wallet. They let him go and he goes to the bodega, where he reads the mystery kid’s diary entry and tells about the recent scams. Hector then finds a note in his backpack, which Ghostwriter says is from the mystery kid. Gaby calls a rally at Fort Greene Park at noon for the next day. After the rally, Lenni thinks she sees someone, and she, Jamal and Alex try to creep up to see who it is. Stephanie runs away from them, though. Gaby wonders if the kid was the one that had put the note in Hector’s backpack, and if they had followed Hector to the rally. After finding other people that had been scammed, the team visits Mrs. Astor’s store again. Stephanie is there again, looking at baseball cards. Hector calls out to her, but she quickly runs out of the store. Ghostwriter tells them to look in an issue of Hoodman. Hector opens the book, and a note falls out from Stephanie, which states that she needs to find a lost list. Later, the team reviews things about the mystery kid at the park, and come to the conclusion that they are following them. They make a list of suspects, including Conrad, the driver of the Lunch Bunch van; and his assistant. Gaby invites Jamal to help her see if someone was spying on them. They see Stephanie run into a van driven by Conrad. They go back to the team, and they wonder if Conrad and his assistant are working together on the scam, and are spying on them since they are working on the case. Hector finds a baseball card with a note on the back from Stephanie, stating to not give up on solving the scam. He is later kidnapped by the scammer after picking up another fake water bill. After Hector sends a message for help, Stephanie comes into the place and removes his gag and ropes, but leaves the blindfold on before leaving. Hector tells the team about the kidnapping at the bodega. Alex finds another note from Stephanie, stating who to visit to catch the scammer, and when. They are still unsure if the mystery kid is helping them, or is the scammer. The next day, Ghostwriter sends the team another diary entry from Stephanie, who was hoping that Hector was all right. They wonder if the mystery kid is the same one that helped Hector the day before. Hector states that the person’s hands were not large, and so must have belonged to a kid. He later questions Conrad about the scam, and about his assistant. Conrad becomes mad, including about the lost Lunch Bunch list, and states that it would be better working by himself. The team decides to go the place that the mystery kid had told them to, with Lieutenant McQuade with them. The scammer, Mrs. Astor, escapes, but is caught by Stephanie outside. The team wonders where the mystery kid went, and then Stephanie speaks up. She tells them that the hardest part was getting the note in Hector’s backpack when he was not looking. Stephanie also tells them that she was trying to stop the scam. She reveals her name, and she and team go to a deli to celebrate solving the case. There, Stephanie tells them that she lives in Maryland and is visiting Brooklyn for the summer. She is also Conrad’s assistant, and Mrs. Astor had stolen the Lunch Bunch list. She reviews what she did in helping the team. Then, Hector asks her if she was the one that had helped him after he had been kidnapped. Stephanie relays that she had seen Mrs. Astor pushing something odd into an empty store, and later she saw the letters H-E-L-P come down the street. The team is surprised to realize that Stephanie can see Ghostwriter. The ghost writes a message to Stephanie, welcoming her to the team. Later, Stephanie receives a rally message to come to Lenni’s loft, where she is given her own Ghostwriter pen. She asks Ghostwriter if he will visit her in Maryland when she leaves after the summer. Ghostwriter says that he will. The team invites Stephanie to come to the ceremony for the chocolate bar contest at the Community Center, where Hector receives a scholarship for solving the water bill scam. Category:Book Characters